Facing the Past
by Jana B
Summary: Angst fic. Hermione made promises to Severus years ago that she didn't keep. Now he wants to know why.


"You'd better answer the door, my love, I need to be off to that meeting." Remus told Hermione with a final kiss on top of   
  
her head. He hugged her like he thought he'd never see her again, and in a way he thought he might not.  
  
After saying their goodbyes, during which the knocking became louder and more persistent, Remus left via the floo network,   
  
wondering if he'd ever get to hold his wife again, but knowing it was unlikely.  
  
Hermione knew something was wrong with her husband, and her instincts gave her a pretty good idea of what it was. She had a   
  
pretty good guess who was at the door as well, and that the visitor had to do with her husbands behavior. With a large sigh   
  
she went to the door. Time to face her past.  
  
As she opened the door her suspicions were confirmed, though she hadn't expected it to be such a shock to her system to see   
  
him again. There he stood, as tall and as handsome as she remembered him, save for a new scar across his cheekbone. He was   
  
angry.  
  
"You promised me! You swore to me you'd come back to me, Hermione!" he cried, brushing passed her into her home without so   
  
much as a hello.  
  
"There were circumstances, Severus. You don't know what I went through-"  
  
"What you went through? What I went through was the ending of a war. The only thing that kept me alive was your promise, but   
  
the war is over now and I grew tired of waiting for you to return. Now I find you've married one of my old enemies? How   
  
could you do this to me?" Hermione closed the door and turned to look him in the eye, only to look away because of the pain   
  
she saw there. The pain she caused.  
  
"Severus, the war lasted so very long and I-"  
  
"You what? Couldn't wait that long? Was your bed getting so cold that you had to marry the first man who came along? How   
  
long was it between my bed and his Hermione, a week? A month?" he asked accusingly, not sure he really wanted to know the   
  
answer. He stalked away, pacing in his anger.  
  
"I was married in six months, Severus, if you would only let me-"  
  
"Six months? Is that all it took for your love for me to fade? I know I'm not an easy man to love, but six months? I saw   
  
your face that night, Hermione. I know you felt something at least half as strong as I did. I risked my life on the memory   
  
of your face many times." he turned towards her, and was somewhat surprised to see tears running down her face. Her   
  
beautiful face. It hadn't changed much at all. It had grown slight worry lines around the eyes, it had matured some, and   
  
there was a great sadness in her eyes. Finally he had the good sense to shut up.  
  
"Severus. I didn't mean to go back on my promise. I assure you that I meant every word that I said that night. I know that   
  
the war kept us apart because of my... history. Voldemort would have killed us both. You have to believe me though Severus,   
  
that I still love you a great deal." there was a great pain in her voice, but her words still infuriated him.  
  
"Then why did you marry him?" he said him like the word was poison, and he would like nothing better to do than to feed her   
  
that poison.  
  
"Like I said, there were... circumstances. If I hadn't been married I would've been killed." as she said this, a look of   
  
confusion crossed his face. She turned and went into a room that had to be a library for all its books. He followed her,   
  
and she went to a desk and picked up a framed picture from its surface. She thrust it towards him, not looking him in the   
  
eye.  
  
He looked down at this picture, knowing somewhere within him what it was. A young girl of about 8 years of age grinned up   
  
at him. She had her mothers facial features, and her thick curly hair, but that was where the similarity ended. Her eyes   
  
were so dark they could only be described as black, and her hair matched them exactly. Anyone knowing her mothers history   
  
of lovers would have no doubt who this child's father was. It wasn't Remus Lupin.  
  
"What... How did this... Why didn't anyone tell me?" Severus cried finally. Tears ran down his face without his knowledge,   
  
though it was unlikely he would care had he known.   
  
"Because I had to get married, Severus. If anyone was to think that the child was not a Snape or a Potter, either of those   
  
fathers would mark the child as a target for death automatically. I had to marry someone else. I knew there was no way the   
  
child would resemble a Weasley, and besides that Ron and I would kill each other. Remus stepped in and volunteered to marry   
  
me for my safety and that of my baby. It is a marriage of convenience, nothing more." she reached up and turned his face to   
  
look at her.   
  
"Why didn't you come to me then? After the war? Its been over for a year, and certainly you could have gotten a divorce..."   
  
"I could have, but I wasn't sure if you would still want me. We've both been through so much, and I remember how much you   
  
hated children..." at this he pulled back a little.  
  
"I do not hate children, and I certainly couldn't hate one that came from our bond. I love you, Hermione, and thats all that   
  
matters. Come back to me?" he looked searchingly into her eyes.  
  
"What about Remus? I've never been... intimate with him, but he still cares for me. And he loves Sophia as his own child.   
  
It would kill him to have her taken away."  
  
"Sophia..." he muttered to himself "well, he could come visit her, and you, if need be. Just please say you'll finally come   
  
back to me?" he cupped his hand on her cheek and wiped a tear away with his thumb.  
  
"Yes." 


End file.
